Ten programmes that changed our lives
In its 60-year history, ITV has aired programmes that became ingrained in our national culture. Ben Lawrence picks the top 10
1 Coronation Street (1960-present)
When scriptwriter Tony Warren pitched his kitchen-sink drama to Granada, who’d have thought it would still be going strong 55 years later – the world’s longest-running soap and central to ITV’s success? Half the nation watched Corrie at its peak and the cobbled streets around the Rovers Return are part of British culture.
2 Seven Up (1964 onwards)
When Michael Apted interviewed a group of seven-year-olds for a World in
Action documentary, he couldn’t have realised that this would be the start of one of the most important social documents of the 20th and 21st centuries. Following a range of people from diverse backgrounds, we have shared their high points and their heartaches. It has been a consistently powerful and moving experience.
3 The Muppet Show (1976-1981)
Definitely the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational show in ITV history, Jim Henson’s puppet spectacular gave us unforgettable characters, such as Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy and The Great Gonzo. Set up as a behind-the-scenes look at the fading stars of a vaudeville revue, it worked as both sketch show and musical comedy, displaying
4 Upstairs Downstairs (1971-1975)
Long before Downton Abbey, Eileen Atkins and Jean Marsh’s drama, which followed masters and servants at 165 Eaton Place, was a high-class soap, which, thanks to a brilliantly orchestrated ensemble of characters, drew in huge audiences. It also documented social change in Britain in the first third of the 20th century.
5 The Avengers (1961-1969)
What began as a conventional spy series transformed into one of the most bizarre and inventive drama series ever made. Every week, Patrick Macnee as the bowler-hatted Steed thwarted the plans of diabolical masterminds in extraordinary ways, and his assistants (most notably Diana Rigg’s karate-kicking Emma Peel) were some of the strongest female characters ever seen on television.
6 The Naked Civil Servant (1975)
Based on Quentin Crisp’s memoir, this featurelength drama told his colourful story with style, while John Hurt’s performance won him a Bafta. It turned the book into a bestseller and Crisp (self-styled “stately homo of England”) became a gay icon on both sides of the Atlantic.
7 The World at War (1973-1974)
Jeremy Isaacs’ rigorous 26-part series left no aspect of the Second World War unanalysed. Its interviews with SS officers, British soldiers, concentration camp victims and civilians make it an invaluable historical document. Carl Davis’s score remains one of the most powerful theme tunes of all time.
8 Brideshead Revisited (1981)
This sumptuous adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel was obsessively faithful to its source material and it showed. Leisurely and literary, this examination of the aristocratic Marchmain family seen through the eyes of Charles Ryder (Jeremy Irons, pictured left, with costar Anthony Andrews) remains the benchmark for costume dramas.
9 Prime Suspect (1991-2006)
Seven landmark series of the grittily hypnotic police procedural were “event television” before the term was coined. Helen Mirren was a star turn as the trailblazing Met officer DCI Jane Tennison, who battled sexism and alcoholism as well as criminals.
10 The Sweeney (1975-1978)
“Shut it!” The most iconic British cop show of the Seventies featured John Thaw as the door-smashing man’s man DI Jack Regan of the Flying Squad, churning up gravel all over London in his supercharged Ford Granada. A youthful Dennis Waterman co-starred.